The Road, The Voyage

On Saturday I boarded a plane from Los Angeles to Oakland. In Oakland I rented a car (a mini-SUV - the Saturn Vue). I drove to San Francisco, picked up my cousin, some (but not nearly all) of his belongings, and his 3 cats.

We then drove east, for 2,146 miles or so, ending up in Chicago on a lovely sickeningly humid 99 degree day.

During the drive and on my subsequent stay in the midwest, I made a few discoveries:

• The area around Lake Tahoe is beautiful.
• You can't drive 87 in a 75 zone in eastern Nevada.
• People in Utah really are Mormons.
• Liz Phair is amazing. Yes, even her new stuff.
• I make really good mix CDs
• They should call me Mixmaster Fahm
  
• The best soy mocha in the world can be purchased at a gas station in Salt Lake City.
• There's a great college radio station in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• Iowa and Western Illinois? Nothing!
• Illinois in general and Chicago in particular has no infrastructure. That's what you get when you keep electing corrupt politicians.
  
• In the 5 years since I was last there, Hyde Park (in Chicago) has been gentrified beyond recognition. This is not a bad thing.
• When I'm tired, I should just sleep.
• Casy the cat has a good solid purr.
• Public Storage employees can be bribed.
  

During the visit, I ventured up to lovely Wisconsin. Now there's a state with an infrastructure! I found the loveliest house in all of Dousman. There's an art teacher there, with a way about her. The region is doused with lovely trees. A hush and a rush. Green clouds and purple moons. Dreams of unicorns and warring centurions.

Because of unforeseen Public Storage-related delays, I was late for my flight. I drove like a maniac from Hyde Park to Midway, filling up and returning my rental car in a brusque manner, running through the airport like USC's Reggie Bush in the Fresno State game, eluding would-be tacklers. Luckily, my plane was delayed in taking off because of a lightning storm. Ninety minutes on the tarmac. It wouldn't have been so bad if, before going to the airport, I hadn't gotten my shirt soaked moving my cousin's stuff out of storage, necessitating the borrowing of a T-shirt from my cousin. And the T-shirt he gave me, the T-shirt I wore during my mad rush to the Gate A18? This one.